VRENTAE
“Holding my heart.”
The word vrentae is best translated as “obsession,” although the literal meaning is “holding my heart.” Depending on the accentuation, the word has two connotations. The first is “love.” The second is “revenge.” If the first syllable is accented—vren-tay—it means “love.” If the second syllable is accented—vren-tay—it means “revenge.”
In the minds and hearts of the ven, these two things are nearly identical.
First, let us explore “revenge.”
The concept of war, as we understand it, is completely alien to the ven for many reasons. First among them is resources. While the ven are not a culture of scarcity, there is not enough dry land to support a standing army. The ven did inherit the ideas of warfare from the aelva danna, but it is no longer considered a practical method of resolving dispute. The ven adapted and evolved, developing a style of warfare that fit their circumstances.
Unable to wage war on a large scale, the ven have mastered waging war on a small scale. The most common way to settle a dispute is private duel. One-on-one combat. The two combatants agree on terms through a disinterested third party, meet at a predetermined time, select weapons, then ceremoniously try to kill each other. The winner is considered “correct” in the dispute.
However, despite all of this formal combat, deaths occur outside the parameters of legal duel all the time. We would call this “murder.” The ven call it uvanla: “a moment of opportunity.” When a ven is killed outside the scope of legal murder, the relatives of the deceased are obliged to call vrentae. The process for calling vrentae is complicated and must follow the correct procedure. If it is not correctly followed, the vrentae is not considered “official” and may carry dire consequences.
When a ven calls for vrentae, he marks himself in a distinct manner—usually with the color red—and is considered immune to almost all other procedures and bureaucracy. No other matter is more important than avenging the wrongful death of a relative. He is considered free of sin until the vrentae is carried out. However, if he fails to carry out the vrentae in the proper amount of time, or does not carry it out in the proper fashion, his reputation will be severely damaged. More on duels and formal combat can be found in a later chapter.
And now, let us talk about the other side of vrentae. Let us talk about “love.”
While many have translated vrentae as “love,” it is not a fully correct translation. “Romantic love” is closer, but still not completely correct. The ven do not view love as eternal, nor do they understand the concept of a “soul mate.” Marriage does exist in ven culture, but as a bargaining chip for settling land disputes, inheritance and for making heirs. All of this is rather cold, but vrentae is anything but. It is hot. It is the passion that drives men and women mad. As one ven poet wrote, “It is the sickness for which the only cure is the cause.”
For the ven, vrentae is a cause for poetry, for song and for story. It makes us unwise, drives us to tragedy, and blinds our reason. This is vrentae. And, just as those who are driven by revenge wear a color to distinguish themselves, so do those who have fallen under the mad spell of love. While wearing such a distinction, a man or woman may expect a bit more tolerance from those who understand the sickness of love. Those under its sway act madly and do foolish things. They cannot be held responsible for what they do: they are in love!
But love, like revenge, does not last. It fades like the seasons. Eventually, an affair grows cold and becomes like the marriage the lovers fled from. Marriages last forever, but affairs come and go. This is the way of love: powerful but fickle, passionate but passing. And while it may make us mad for a time, we cannot be fools forever.